Actions

Work Header

Fairy Survivor

Chapter 16

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Zancrow was entertained.

He always enjoyed watching weaklings struggle beneath real power. He loved it even more when arrogant people who believed themselves to be strong crumbled under his power. People like that, the weak who believe themselves to be strong, those people are the ones who Zancrow hates the most.

That was why he killed those weaklings from his guild who believed that their mere association with Grimoire Heart made them strong. Zancrow loves his guild, and he refuses to allow such parasites to leech off of it. Master Hades was the one who taught Zancrow what it meant to be truly strong, and he will always be in his debt because of that. Master Hades is the only one who Zancrow will ever follow or believe in. He believes in his strength, the strength of a god.

His fight with the three fairies was coming to a close and only the fire dragon slayer still stood. The little sky dragon slayer brat was unconscious back in the clearing where their fight had begun. He'll have to go back and finish her off after he deals with this last one. As for the big cat, well, he had cut the cat in half right at the fight's start. God flames can make surprisingly clean cuts.

Makarov was here as well, but he was on his deathbed after having a hole blasted through his chest by Master Hades. He could barely muster the strength to grab onto Zancrow, nothing more. Zancrow admits that Makarov truly has a lot of power, but his sentimentality makes him weak. Even without that, his opponent was Master Hades. He never stood a chance.

Seeing that Makarov's hand was being destroyed inside Zanrow's god flames, Natsu gave one last push to escape from the flames that trapped him. Truly, This was too much fun.

"The dragon slayer, Makarov, or little old me," Zancrow sneers. "I wonder who's gonna kick the bucket first."

The dragon slayer's magic blazed like a beacon inside Zancrow's black flames, but it was quickly being eroded away. That beacon of light grew smaller and smaller until eventually there was nothing left. Natsu Dragneel used all his magic, but still failed to escape from the flames of god.

"Hahahaha" Zancrow laughed maniacally at the scene. "Well, looks like the dragon slayer was the first to go!"

His celebration was cut short when the god flames began to swirl and siphon towards the center. The fire dragon slayer was eating his magic!

"Why is he eating god flames?!" Zancrow couldn't help but exclaim. Just what is this guy?!

"I see," Natsu marvels. "I guess there are flames that you need to eat in a special way."

Makarov finally let Zancrow go in his surprise, but he didn't get out of this unscathed. God flames don't burn, they just destroy. His hand had been destroyed down to the bone in some areas. Makarov's hand is now completely useless, crippled. Still, he focused on reprimanding Natsu rather than nursing his wounds.

"You Idiot!" He yelled. "Are you trying to kill yourself?!"

"I don't want to die." Natsu states, but then his voice turned into more of a feral snarl. A dragon's growl. "But this bastard killed Lily, hurt Wendy, now he even hurt you, gramps! No matter what, I can't forgive him! If I don't stop him here, he could hurt more of my friends. We're all going home together, to Fairy Tail."

Natsu gathered his magic and brought his hands together for a spell that looked very much like Zancrow's own technique.

"Let them unite. The flames of dragons and gods: Dragon God's Brilliant Flame!"

A massive burst of fire shot out and engulfed Zancrow. Natsu turned around to face Makarov after seeing the blast.

"Grandpa, let's fight." He urged. "I know there are times when it's best to retreat, Gildarts taught me that. But now isn't one of those times. Now it's time to make them pay for messing with Fairy Tail. It's time to make them feel the full power of our guild!" He raises his fist. "Let's fight, Grandpa."

After speaking he collapses to the ground. Makarov tries to shout out to see if he's okay, but he can only break out in a fit of coughs. His wound from Hades is getting worse. When he finally gets his breathing under control, he is interrupted one more time.

"That was a nice speech, but did you really think you beat me?" Zancrow sneers at the foolish fairies.

Natsu can't even lift his head to look, but Makarov can see him. He watches as Zancrow slurps up the last few bits of the flame before patting his stomach.

"That was quite a bit of power that you put into that, dragon slayer." He advances until he is standing right over the fallen fire dragon slayer. "But did it not occur to you that those were my own flames? If you can eat your dragon flames, why couldn't I eat my god flames? I thought I told you already. Fire doesn't work on me!"

Zancrow emphasizes his statement by stomping on the dragon slayer's skull, pushing his face into the dirt. He continues to twist and grind his foot as Natsu's arms and legs flail and struggle.

"Natsu!" Makarov cries out.

With his face fully buried in the dirt like that, there's no doubt that Natsu is suffocating, but there's nothing Makarov can do to save him. His body is too weak to move right now. No matter how hard he tries to muster up his strength, there are times when the mind and the body simply don't cooperate. This was one of them.

"You know," Zancrow starts to build up a scythe of black flames in his hand. "You really pissed me off there. I think I'll show you what god flames can really do."

"Please!" Makarov cries. "Please spare that child! You can kill me, but please let that boy go."

Zancrow looks at Makarov for a moment with an expression of sheer disgust before a sadistic grin overcomes it.

"So now that you've lost, you weaklings resort to begging. Master Hades was right, we don't need people like you in the Ultimate Magic World." His grin grows wider as he looks at the crying old man. "How about this? I kill this brat, then I kill you, then I go kill that blue-haired brat, finally, I kill every fairy on this island. That sounds best to me and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, Makarov."

Zancrow breaks out in his psychotic laughter and swings his scythe down. Only, the laughter is abruptly cut short and the scythe disappears. Zancrow rapidly approaches the ground, but he realizes with shock that his body is still standing right there.

When he hits the ground and is overcome by the darkness, the last thing he sees is a sight from his past which has still given him nightmares to this day. Nightmares of the one time in his life when he had felt truly powerless. Nightmares of the event that cause him to wear the bandages he has wrapped around his torso and shoulders

A pair of cold and unfeeling green eyes stare down at him, almost with disinterest. Then everything goes dark and he knows no more.


Roughly 4 years ago, shortly after White had turned 10 years old.

Zancrow waited at the training grounds with a twisted grin on his face. He would finally get the chance to put that useless little brat who has been clinging to Master Hades' leg in his place. The brat always rejected him whenever Zancrow asked him for a spar, but this time Master Hades himself ordered White to accept.

Waiting with him is Ultear, Rusty, Kain, and Azuma. Caprico is out on a mission, so he is the only member of the Six Kin of Purgatory who wouldn't witness this spar. Apparently, it's going to become seven soon with the addition of that brat who always follows Ultear around, but she isn't here either.

Still, Zancrow doesn't care about these things. All he cares about is showing that little weakling his place. The little shit acts so high and mighty, like he's better than everyone else. Zancrow wishes he could kill him, but he can't afford to ruin one of Master Hades' experiments.

Finally, a flash of purple appears in the clearing of the training ground and the little shit arrives. Master Hades isn't here, but he is probably watching through a lacrima. He's a busy man after all.

Zancrow notices that white isn't wearing his usual weird clothes. Instead, He is wearing skin-tight black pants and a white tank-top which is also skin tight. He probably doesn't want to ruin his clothes against Zancrow's flames. Zancrow scoffs at this. Only weaklings would worry about something like that.

"Hahaha! You're finally here you little brat! How dare you make me wait on a pathetic weakling like you!" Zancrow mocks. "Were you too busy pissing yourself in fear? Can't run away anymore now that Master Hades ordered it, Can you?"

"..." White simply stares at Zancrow with a blank expression before walking past him and getting into a drawing stance with his sword.

"Huh?" A vein bulges out on Zancrow's forehead from his anger at being ignored. "Oh, I get it. You're too scared to speak, aren't you? It's all you can handle just being here. It's okay, big brother Zancrow won't hurt you. Not too badly at least. Hahaha!"

"..." The brat simply tilts his head a bit, still without expression. "Are you not going to fight? You talk too much." His voice is soft, almost robotically monotone, but the mockery is clear.

"Alright, you shitty brat!" Zancrow grinds his teeth and spits out his words with venom. "Forget it. I'm going to kill you!"

"Fire God's Bellow!"

Zancrow leads off by breathing out a massive wave of black flames.

The rest of the kin are chatting off at the side, probably concerned that he might kill Master Hades' experiment, but he ignores them. His anger is focused like tunnel vision on the arrogant weakling in front of him.

"Narukami Flash"

A scythe of dark magic cuts through the fire and continues on towards Zancrow.

"Fire God's Scythe!"

"White Sword Art: Snakebite"

He barely manages to block the dark blade in time with his own magic, but a sharp pain in his shoulder tells him that he didn't block everything. A bone-white sword has extended out from White's position and pierced his shoulder. It retracts just as quickly, but Zancrow dashes forward to follow it to its owner.

"Fire God's Fist of Judgement!"

Black flames engulf his fist as it rams into the little brat's side. Zancrow sneers as the kid is sent flying into a tree. He definitely felt a few of the brat's ribs crack under that one. The kid seems to have some sort of sword magic, but even still. He's weak.

"Hahaha! Do you get it now?!" Zancrow laughs as he leisurely advances towards the fallen boy. "You're too weak compared to me! You're nothing!"

When he arrives in front of White, Zancrow raises his arm and fills it with magic power, creating a blade of black flames.

"Fire God's scythe!"

"Zancrow get back!" Ultear shouts from the side.

He brings the blade down, cutting the brat's left arm clean off. In that same motion, the boy takes action. He stops playing dead and draws his sword with an arm that appears to be on his body backwards, allowing him to have a full range of attack even when lying on his stomach. The draw was too quick to avoid and opened a gash across Zancrow's stomach.

Luckily, he had at least begun to dodge with the help of Ultear's warning. Otherwise, that would have been a fatal wound.

'This bastard just tried to kill me' The thought itself is enough to make Zancrow uneasy. What would have happened if Ultear didn't warn him? In the first place, this is a spar. What kind of pathetic weakling plays dead and does sneak attacks in a spar?

Rage begins to take over Zancrow's mind and all reason is lost to him.

"Fire God's Supper!"

The boy is engulfed in a ball of black god flames that constantly destroy his flesh. The brat doesn't have a special constitution of a fire mage to resist the flames, so his body is rapidly destroyed.

"Hahaha!" Zancrow laughs in sadistic glee at the sight of the annoying weakling dying. "You pathetic weakling! You're useless, and Grimoire Heart has no need for useless people. People like you can be killed and replaced whenever we feel like it. That's what it means to be weak! Hahaha!"

Still, he is a bit unsettled that the boy doesn't cry out in pain. In fact, he hasn't made a sound since other than his spell names this entire fight. Thinking that the boy should be dead by now, Zancrow releases his magic. Without the flames blocking his vision, he sees a sight more disturbing than anything else in his life.

All of White's clothes and skin had been eroded away, and a blood-soaked mass of exposed muscle and bone was what stood before him. Its shape couldn't even be considered human anymore. The legs had an extra joint at the calves and the torse was way too thin. The stomach and intestines were exposed and had fallen out of his body. A thick layer of fatty flesh surrounded the head, as if the flesh from his waist had been moved to protect it instead.

What makes the sight even more unsettling is that all of it is moving. Writhing and wriggling around. The muscles rebuild and reattach themselves to the bone. The blood swirls and churns to stay on the body, rather than falling to the ground. The intestines and organs on the ground slide up his body with disgusting squelching noises as they smush themselves back into place.

Finally, The fleshy around his head unfurls like a repulsive flower, exposing his face below. His hair is gone, just the melted remains of his scalp cover his head, soaked red with blood. His eyes are melted and bubbling holes. His nose is also melted and has slid down closer to his mouth. The worst is his mouth. What kind of agonized expression should someone in this state make? Zancrow doesn't know, but he is certain that what he sees before him is unnatural.

White is grinning, literally from ear to ear as his cheeks have melted and ripped apart. His Lips are gone, so only his teeth and gums are showing, but he is undoubtedly smiling at Zancrow.

"What's wrong? Done already?" White asks as his face returns to a somewhat human form and the flesh from his torso reattaches itself. His voice is no longer robotic, but anyone who heard it would agree that there is something wrong with it. He sounds almost intoxicated. "But we were having soooooo much fuuuunnnnn! I'm useless, weak and replaceable. So, I reeeeaaaalllyyy was sooo happy that you could help teach me Zancrow!"

Once the boy's body is back in place, he all of a sudden disappears from Zancrow's sight. When Zancrow turns to search for him, he falls to the ground instead. His right leg had been cut off at mid-thigh.

"AAAAHHHHRRRGGG!" He screams in pain, but still uses his magic to sear the wound shut. When he's done he looks at White. The monster is approaching him with an intoxicated expression and a wide grin, even as his skin regrows itself over the muscles. "What the hell are you?!"

White just continues to smile and approach until he's crouched down in front of Zancrow's face. He takes out his sword and fingers the blade as it shortens to only about a half foot long and teeth grow out of the edge like a saw.

"I," He looks straight into Zancrow's eyes. "Am a weakling."

Before anyone can even react, he brings down his blade on Zancrow's shoulder and saws. Back and forth, back and forth.

Screams ring out in the forest around the training area for a full hour, but nobody makes any moves to stop them. Even after an hour, the shock and instinctive fear still has the rest of the Kin rooted in place. Now that Zancrow has lost all four limbs, they can't help but pray that it will be over. Zancrow's face is a mess of tears, snot and saliva, his mouth is filled with blood from rips in his throat.

"Now then," White merrily claps his hands together with a smile, splattering blood everywhere. "Normally, I'd stop it here and kill you now, but this time I guess I'm just a little bit angry with you. Also, I couldn't help but notice that that cut on your stomach seems a bit too shallow. It's really been bothering me." His smile grows even wider and flecks of the splattered blood cover his teeth. "Let's fix that."

He set down his sword and dug his fingers into the cut, getting both hands ready to tear it apart.

"3"

"Nuh!" Zancrow rapidly shakes his head and tries to speak.

"2"

"Nuh!" Zancrows eyes widen and the tears come even faster. His rapid shaking sprays them on White's face along with the blood.

"1" White rips his hands apart, tearing the cut until Zancrow's intestines are clearly visible. His expression is almost orgasmic with the sheer euphoria of the act.

"AAHHHRRGGG" Zancrow screams with renewed vigor.

"Oh!" White finally seems to snap back into reality after a long moment of sitting in place with that same disgusting expression. "Were you trying to say no? Oh no! I'm sorry, I just couldn't understand you. Really, it's your own fault though." White pats him on the shoulder. "You need to speak clearly about these things."

The sound of teleportation magic being used sounds out behind him and White realizes that this won't last any longer.

"Well, looks like our fun is over. That's too bad, isn't it Zancrow?" White sighs. "I hope that this replaceable weakling was able to teach you something useful."

"White," Hades calls out. "That's enough now."

"Okay!" White takes his sword and cleanly slits Zancrow's throat before standing up.

"What the hell did I just say, White?!" Zancrow can hear Hades yelling, but everything is fuzzy and his vision is going dark. "Heal him! Now!"

He passed out at this point, thinking that he was going to die. He woke up a full month later and was told that Master Hades had nearly killed White as punishment. Even hearing that, Zancrow felt nothing but a chilling fear at the mention of White's name. He never wants to fight that monster again.

That thing isn't human.


I walked over Zancrow's body on my way to check on the Fairy Tail mages.

Natsu Dragneel is severely wounded, but it doesn't appear to be life-threatening. Makarov, on the other hand, will die very soon if nothing is done. What a pitiful sight he makes. A weak old man with a hand that is nothing but bone and a gaping hole in his chest. I can't help but scoff at the sight.

"Is this what you meant by protecting your own, Makarov Dreyar?"

The dying old man struggles to look up at me, but when he does, he has a weak expression on his face. It isn't the expression of a powerful wizard saint, nor that of a legendary guild master. No, it's the expression of someone powerless to do anything but watch as his children are killed before him. The expression of one who realizes he will likely die without even being able to do that much.

"..Ah.. Thah… Yuh…" Makarov struggles to speak to me, but he is too weak to form words. He is dying now.

"Heh, you light mages really are blessed by the gods or something." I drawl. "Lucky for you, I need you alive to beat Hades. If anyone else showed up here, you'd be dead. Not even you're Sky Maiden could heal you at this point. I hope you realize just how much you owe me when this is all over."

I walk up to the old man and place a hand over the hole in his chest. His inner organs and bones reform themselves under my direction, and even his heart problems are fixed. I use my magic to restore some youth to his cells to try and give him a bit of an edge when he fights Hades. I can't completely restore him now that he has already gotten this old, but I can return him to the condition he had around 20 years ago at least. Luckily, Hades is too cautious to let me use magic directly on him. Otherwise, he probably would have had me do this to him long ago.

I restore his hand after I've restored him, but a certain sound attracts my attention as soon as I finish.

Rustyrose's pretentious babbling and… That's Elfman's voice!

Damn it, Elfman can't win against him. Not even with Evergreen's help. Where the hell is Mira?!

I search for her and find that she went searching for allies with Lisanna in the opposite direction. Damn! This isn't good. I stand up and swiftly turn to rush over, but my way is blocked.

"What do you think you're doing to Natsu and Master Makarov?!"

A redheaded knight stands across from me with her sword pointed my way and an enraged expression on her face.

Notes:

Hey, as a side note, Zancrow is actually my favorite male character in Fairy Tail, despite being such a minor villain. So, This chapter was super fun to write for me. R.I.P. you crazy bastard.